


Planet Scars

by WyrmLivvy



Series: Krypton's Revenge [1]
Category: Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Man of Steel (2013), Superman - All Media Types
Genre: Drama, F/M, Family, Gen, Memories, Resurrection, Trans Male Character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-02
Updated: 2016-04-02
Packaged: 2018-05-30 17:56:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6434512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WyrmLivvy/pseuds/WyrmLivvy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lois can bring Clark back to life. But first she needs to find his spirit.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is not a "fix-it" fic. It's more a "Clark gets revived but there's more trouble" fic. At the beginning of this fic, Lex is in jail but unfortunately his presence will still be felt. 
> 
> Also, in this fic Lex is a trans man. I thought about representation and respectability politics and you know what, not all the trans guys I write have to be good and not villains. If you do want to read a fic where the trans guy is not a villain though, look at my TLC verse, where Clark Kent is a trans man.

The dreams started for Lois after Clark was buried. 

—  
_  
You’re billions of years old and you’ll live to be twice your current age because after those additional billions of years the red sun will explode and you’ll go with it. You’re content with that._

_Your primary residents are much, much younger - it takes them millions of years to develop._

_They started small and weak, swimming within you before crawling out, before walking. You underestimate and ignore them for the most part. But they change._

_They didn’t know what they did. Or they didn’t at first. And they kept going._

_The wounds started small - cuts and holes across your surface. But then they added up. At first it was done by hand, or small tools, but then the machines got larger and larger, more sophisticated. They are always wanting more from you._

_Your insides are being ripped out. And it hurts. **It hurts.**_

_It took you too long to realize that you’re dying. That these small creatures could become so big a menace. You don’t have a billion more years to live. Not even a million._

_**You hate.** You rage at the unfairness of it all. You gave them life; everything that they have is because of you. _

_Didn’t they know that if you die, they die?_

_You die and they burn with you._  
  
—

The Kryptonite spear was being kept in the Batcave. 

Lois and Martha knew Bruce Wayne's identity and he doesn’t question them when Lois asked that they be left alone with it. 

Martha stood behind her. Lois placed her hands directly on the spear’s tip. 

“I know that you’re holding Clark’s spirit.” Lois said the words but she also thought and projected them. “It’s not yours to keep.” 

Clark had been buried but he had not stayed in the ground. Martha and Lois had visited him together and it was fortunate no one else was around when his body had risen out of the earth when the sun was at its zenith. Lois had searched for a heartbeat and found one; but no matter what she or Martha did, his eyes did not open. Wonder Woman - Diana, had diagnosed that Clark’s spirit was missing. 

Now, Lois had feared that the Kryptonite - that Krypton, would ignore her and stay silent, but a reply rippled across the surface of her mind. _“Yes it is. I have a right to his life, his death, his soul. Kal-El is mine just like all Kryptonians are mine. It is from I that they come and to I they shall return. They murdered me and so I kill in turn. My claim is strong. Do not bargain for what I will not give.”_

“I have a claim on Clark Kent.” Lois said. She was touching the spear with the hand that wore the engagement ring. “The ring I am wearing. It means something. It means Kal-El made a promise to me. I hold him to his vow, and he needs to return to me to keep it. Hand him over. Now.”

The planet’s malicious laughter rang in her mind. _“How bold. But I know what it means. It means until death do us part. Your claim doesn’t hold.”_

Lois startled as a hand was put over hers. 

There’s a few beats of silence. Then she heard words with her ears and her consciousness. 

“As Clark’s mother. I claim his soul from you.” 

_“You didn’t give birth to him. You didn’t give him life.”_ Krypton hissed. _“Your claim is not - ”_

“It’s valid.” Martha insisted. “He is my son. I clothed him, I fed him meals I made with my own two hands. Meals made up of corn grown from Earth’s soil and apples from it’s trees. When he was still an infant, he wasn’t used to this planet’s atmosphere - he had trouble breathing. I watched him night after night. And he lived.”

“You did give the Kryptonians that lived on you everything, but what Clark received was from this planet. Its air, its crops.” Lois thought. “He’s lived here for thirty-five years. This planet didn’t kill him so why can you? Even if you don’t respect our claims, can you respect this planet’s?” Lois struggled for an applicable word. “Can you respect your…your sibling’s claim?” Lois asked, because wasn’t Krypton like Earth, the both of them planets? 

Silence. 

“I know you miss them.” Lois thought. “You miss the Kryptonians.” Lois recalled the dreams and how the loneliness was as present as the hatred and anger. “There aren’t any left. Clark was the last. If you don’t bring him back who will remember you, who will mourn? There won’t be any proof you ever existed except - ”

 _“Except my corpse.”_ Krypton communicated. 

Lois doesn’t recoil when the spear glowed brighter.

_“You’re right. I’ve taken something that is my sibling’s. I will return him, but on one condition…”_

—

Security on the alien ship was layered and more heightened than it had ever been after what happened with Lex Luthor but Lois got in with help from Wonder Woman, who had made herself known again, reestablishing diplomatic ties with the leaders of nations. The President didn’t deny Wonder Woman’s request that Lois be allowed into the ship but it was obvious everyone was still shaken and nervous. Lois stepped into the ship and knew that she had a time limit and that it was surrounded my military on all sides and in the air. Wonder Woman waited outside - blade, shield, and Lasso ready. 

Lois held out the item on her palm, a lock of her hair twined with Clark’s and the shard of Kryptonite that she had used to cut it with. 

She’s standing before the Genesis Chamber and she’s scared. 

_“I’ll bring him back to life as long as I get to live again too.”_ Krypton had said. _“Make a vessel for me. Of you, of him.”_

Lois let go and the object dropped into the waters. 

At first there’s no reaction but then the waters froth and bubble. 

There’s an infant in the water. 

—

Lois carried the baby out of the water and swaddled him in a red blanket that Martha had asked her to bring inside the ship. 

She walked out unharassed. Wonder Woman walked in front of her, holding her shield in front of Lois and the baby. A spell, Diana had explained. The soldiers do not see the child. 

When Lois brought the baby to Martha, quiet tears had started trailing down her cheek.

“Ms. Kent?” Lois whispered. The baby eyes were open and inquisitive. 

When Martha spoke her words were choked. “H-He looks so much like…like Clark did.” 

Lois stayed silent as Martha walked around, cradling the baby. 

“Does he have a name?” Martha asked. “Did you name him yet?”

Lois shook her head. She meant to ask for Martha’s input. 

“Jonathan.” Martha said. “Can he be named Jonathan? Jon for short…”

“Yes.” Lois said. “Jon Kent.”

“Jon Lane Kent.” Martha amended. 

—

The baby doesn’t stay a baby for long. He aged rapidly and looked to be ten years old in a week. Lois and Martha still kept track of the milestones. Jon’s first word was “ma”, said to Lois. When he took his first steps he had walked to Martha. 

He loved reading and not only did he read the books and newspapers kept around Lois’ apartment but he understood what he read. 

“What a place full of turmoil.” He said, upon reading the headlines. 

When he had reached the age he was old enough to be curious about having a father, Lois had introduced him to the room where a comatose Clark laid. 

“Oh.” Jon had said, touching Clark’s hair upon seeing it was dark as his own. 

Jon displayed uncanny strength. He lifted a sofa when Martha had dropped a spoon under it.

Martha and Lois gave each other a look - they knew more powers would manifest with time. 

They feared that if Jon kept aging at the rate he was going they would lose him in less than two months but one moment Lois was looking at Jon and then the next something had shifted in his eyes and they had turned older, and more dangerous. 

“You don’t have to worry about his continued accelerated aging.” 

The words had come out of Jon’s mouth but Lois knew she was hearing Krypton. It was the way his eyes looked, his posture. How he said things. 

“I only needed him to be old enough to properly do things.” Krypton said. 

Lois panicked. If Krypton was here, then what happened to Jon? “Jon!” Lois said, she held her child by his shoulders. 

His eyes close and when they open again she sees his characteristically gentle expression. 

Lois released him.

“Mom.” Jon said. “Krypton says he’s here to keep up his end of the bargain so you can get dad back. And um, I have to share this body with him so don’t worry when he speaks. I’m still here and actually he says I’m like his…landlord?” 

“I am renting this vessel.” Krypton said. 

“It’ll get confusing.” Jon said. “So since I’m Jon, how about when Krypton is in control, we’ll call him Kon? Is that okay, Krypton?”

Jon’s expression shifted again.

“Hmph. Whatever.” Krypton said. He turned to look over at the place where a comatose Clark lied. 

“Kon…” Lois said. 

Krypton reacted to the name, turning around to look at Lois.

“How will you revive Clark?” She asked. 

“Saving Kal-El is up to you.” Kon said. “Within me I hold memories, my own and the memories of those this vessel was crafted from. Find him and carry his spirit out from within them and he is yours.” 

Kon put his palm to her forehead, giving zero warning before Lois was sucked into a whirlpool of memories.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> content warnings: implied abuse, mention of miscarriage, attempted murder, mention of pedophilia, incest, rape and suicide in the lives of historical/legendary figures.

Lois landed in Krypton’s memories. She recognized the emotions from the dreams. 

She felt rage and hatred. 

Then heat, a painful and fiery death. Someone was screaming. Lois realized she was screaming. It was her.

She struggled to pick which paths to walk among the memories. She landed in blessedly cool water. Small fish swam around her. She was small too. A small part of her was in the water - much, much smaller than she had been. The water smoothed her. Earth was so beautiful.

Lois couldn’t stay in Krypton’s memories. She had to find Clark’s and in doing so, find him. 

She’s in water. Her arms are strong and she carried the bus out of the water. Lana sees her. 

She wanted to cry. She’ll get into trouble. Lana wasn’t suppose to see her. 

She saved Pete too. She’s in more trouble than ever. 

Dad’s speaking to her. We’ve talked about this, he said. 

Lois startled upon seeing the late Mr. Kent’s face. That meant she was Clark, in his memories. She recognized the close warmth too late, the tides of memory shifted again. 

No! Lois wept but it was already too late. She had grabbed a piece, but not all of Clark. She landed in a memory she recognized as her own. 

“We’ve talked about this.” Her father, General Sam Lane said. 

He wanted her to join the army, like her younger sister, Lucy. 

“You’re setting a bad example for her.” Sam said.

Lois knew her father had wanted his first born to be a son. 

Lois wasn’t and she doesn’t enlist either. She does step into war zones, not as a soldier but as a reporter. 

She thought, I can’t be the son you wanted. 

The memories shifted. 

“I’m not your son?” Lois said sadly. 

“You are, Clark.” Martha said, holding Lois’ cheek. 

“You don’t have to come from me to be my child.” Martha said. 

“Where do babies come from?” Lois asked. 

Martha patiently explained. 

Lois asked if she could have siblings. Martha shook her head. Jonathan and her had tried for many years but her body wouldn’t take. 

But that didn’t matter. Martha said. Clark was more than enough. A blessing. 

Lois gathered more of Clark’s spirit. She almost had enough, only one or two more of his memories and she knew she would be set. 

The landscape bended again. 

She’s holding a newspaper and reading it. Her hands are small, a child’s. She saw red hair hanging at the sides of her face. She feared she was in another one of her memories when she should be looking in Clark’s, but she doesn’t remember this memory. 

The headline was about LexCorp. The company was possibly linked with the illegal dumping of chemicals. It had affected the water and the people in the afflicted area were suffering side-effects. 

After Lois read the article, she read Machiavelli’s The Prince. It’s familiar to her. She’s reread it many times.

_It is unnecessary for a prince to have all the good qualities I have enumerated, but it is very necessary to appear to have them. And I shall dare to say this also, that to have them and always to observe them is injurious, and that to appear to have them is useful; to appear merciful, faithful, humane, religious, upright, and to be so, but with a mind so framed that should you require not to be so, you may be able and know how to change to the opposite._

Suddenly, Lois became aware that there was a woman in the room with her. 

It’s a middle-aged housewife. She’s even wearing an apron. 

“Give me my baby back.” She said. She grabbed Lois. 

“Give me my baby back!” The strange woman shouted. She shouted other things too. About how she had lost the baby that had been in her womb, because she drank water contaminated by the LexCorp’s toxic waste, and how it was too poisoned to carry anything every again. How she had traveled so far to get here because Alexander Luthor needed to feel the pain of losing a child too.

It dawned on Lois that she was in Lex Luthor’s memory. She should only be seeing Krypton’s memories, and the memories of the DNA Jon was comprised of. If she was seeing this it meant Jon was…Jon was partially - 

Lois felt pain bloom across her stomach. The woman was attacking her with a knife. Lois tried to defend herself but the woman was older, stronger, and mad from her loss. Lois sobbed. She prayed for someone to save her. 

Lois cried out for her mother although she was long dead. 

The knife stopped. 

“Mom.” Lois whimpered again in fetal position on the ground. There was blood all over the carpet. Dad was going to be furious. 

The housewife dropped her knife. 

Lois was in a hospital bed. She almost wished the crazy lady had succeeded in killing her. But she had not succeeded, surely that meant something? It meant that she was a survivor and that if she survived this she'll survive anything that came up in the future. She was determined to win. 

Her father visited her but once, and briefly, he had a company that needed more attention. He called Lois an embarrassing weakling who was almost done in by a housewife. They had to get on a plane and leave for somewhere but the nurse had interfered, stating that Lucretia couldn’t be moved from the bed or she could really die. 

Lucretia. It was Lex Luthor’s birth name.

Lois registered a memory of Lex with two boys. One was comparing him to Satan while the other said Lucretia was a pretty sounding-name. Lex despised both of them. Both of them had a crush on him. Both thought he was a girl. 

“Lucretia? More like Lucifer.” Said the first boy. 

“Lucifer means light bringer. Luc means light.” The second boy said. “Lucretia is a pretty light name.” He insisted. 

Lex threw one arm around the shoulders of the first boy and his other arm for the shoulders of the second. He brought them in closer to him until their heads were touching. He knew this would thrill them and also they would hear what Lex had to say. 

“The “Luc” in “Lucretia” doesn’t mean “light”.” Lex said. “The “Luc” is derived from the Latin “lucrum”. It means _“profit”_. The word “lucrative” is drawn from the same root.” 

Boy number two was already uncomfortable. Good. Lex tightened his hold. “Almost always people assume I may have been named after Lucrezia Borgia, the illegitimate daughter of Pope Alexander VI. He betrothed her at thirteen years of age to Giovanni Sforza for a political link to Milan and the power that would come with it.”

“That’s young.” Boy number one squeaked unfortunately. “And bad.” 

“When Alexander didn’t need the Sforza’s power anymore and sought other, better powers, he had the marriage annulled, putting forth that it was unconsummated due to Sforza’s impotence, though Lucrezia was pregnant.”

Lex was using big words and speaking casually of things like sex and impotence, things the boys had an awareness of but knew that kids their age shouldn’t be speaking about. They’re too intimidated to protest. 

“In revenge, Sforza claimed Lucrezia committed incest with Alexander and her brother, Cesare.” Lex continued. “Her second marriage was to Prince Alfonso of Aragon but that alliance was broken too because power changed again, as power does - it was rumored Cesare was the one who ordered Alfonso’s assassination. And, fun fact, Lucrezia loved her husband and hired bodyguards, but he was strangled to death in his bed.”

“W-why did your dad name you after a person with a life like that?” Boy number two squeaked. 

“Don’t interrupt me.” Lex hissed. “And weren’t you listening? People assume I’m named after Lucrezia Borgia but I’m not. I’m named after the legendary Roman noblewoman Lucretia. She was the trigger for citizens rebelling and the Roman Kingdom and monarchy’s fall into the Roman Republic because she committed suicide after being raped by the Roman king’s son.”

Boy one passed out either because Lex’s hold on his throat was too tight or Lex had spoke too casually of pedophilia, incest, rape and suicide. 

Lex had no friends. No one would visit him in the hospital. 

Lois had managed to disentangle herself from the memories in part. She was more distant from them because of her rejection upon realizing she was in Lex’s memories. Unfortunately, it was harder for her to move now because of the phantom pain in her limbs. She should be able to move them but the memory of the knife wounds meant she could not get herself to move. 

She’s stuck observing the memories until enough healing happened. 

A paparazzi broke into the hospital and took pictures of an injured Lex. 

The nurse apologized for the breach in security but it was already too late. 

Lois sensed a hatred. 

Lex hated his father but he was too powerful and it wasn’t safe to hate him. 

Lois felt Lex displace the hatred. 

He decided he hates reporters. 

If they hadn’t reported on the dumping of chemicals would that crazy lady have found someone to blame? And that paparazzi had harassed him just now. He’s going to be humiliated when the pictures of his damaged body are published. And they’ll be calling him “Lucretia”. He hated housewives too. 

Seeing the small, bandaged from head-to-toe body, Lois found herself pitying him too much to be angry. This was the child that would grow up to be the monster who had created Doomsday.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here’s a confession. I chickened out on making Lex’s birth name “Lucretia” in my Smallville Verse trans man Lex fics because I thought it was too fucked up so I went for the boring “Alexandria”. But now that I’ve seen BvS I’m like yeah I can see DoJ!Lex’s birth name being "Lucretia". 
> 
> I’ve been meaning to use it for awhile because Lucretia is such a peak Luthor name.  
> Lucretia Luthor, say it outloud. It’s alliterative as heck. It sounds so right its wrong tbh.  
> And the info presented on the historical figure of Lucrezia Borgia and what historians know of the legendary figure Lucretia are true so there’s a lot of baggage here if it wasn’t already bad enough Lucretia means “profit”. 
> 
> \--
> 
> Here are notes for those that may be confused about the entity called Jon|Kon:
> 
> I am playing with and mangling comics canon for the purposes of this story so this character shares traits with canonical characters but is basically an Original Male Character.
> 
> In comics Jonathan Lane Kent is Superman and Lois Lane’s child. Pre-new 52 Conner Kent(Kon-El) is a “clone” made up of Superman and Lex Luthor’s DNA. I am not making this shit up, these are canon Clois and Clex babies. 
> 
> But here Jon|Kon is a being that is two personality, one body. Jon is a Clexis baby because he has Lois and Clark’s DNA but also Lex’s because Lex’s blood was not cleaned out of the Genesis Chamber (oops). [Those of you suspicious when the name Kon was mentioned, congrats you're right!]
> 
> Jon is the personality of the life form that was created, while Kon is Krypton, the consciousness of Superman’s home planet which Jon has to host and share a body with. Jon has all the powers of Superman while Kon has the additional power of telekinesis which Jon cannot access because the telekinetic powers are Kon manipulating his field of gravity as a planet. This paragraph is all shit I made up for this fic’s universe and I know it sounds ridiculous but I also think I am being less ridiculous than the canon origin of the new 52 Superboy, which is a weird incestual mess.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> content warnings: offscreen murder, use of a razor to intimidate, abuse

Lex didn’t expect any visitors and Lois doesn’t either, but one does arrive. 

It was the investigative reporter who written the article on LexCorp that Lex and the woman who had tried to murder him both read. 

He sat by Lex’s bedside and said that he felt guilty and responsible for Lex’s injuries and brush with death. 

The man introduced himself as Peter. “I’m sorry, Miss Lucretia.” He said. 

“My name is Alexander.” Lex corrected. 

“I’m sorry, Alexander.” Peter apologized. “Children shouldn’t be punished for their parent’s sins.”

Lex rolled his eyes. “But they are. Icarus was locked in the tower with Daedalus and only one of them made it out to safety alive. And your article said sins were generational. That the chemicals, once in the ground, can persist for generations.”

“I said that children shouldn’t be punished for their parent’s sins, not that they aren’t.” Peter said. 

At first Lex thought the reporter wasn’t a psycho but it turned out he was. 

They argue about mankind and Earth. 

Peter said that pollution took many years to recover from, if at all, and that the shortsightedness of caring for profit now meant the poisoning of future generations.

Lex said he didn’t give a fuck. He spouted things he’s heard his father say. 

That the planet should be dominated and its resources extracted for profit. Survival of the fittest and how nature was a harsh, unforgiving mistress that you must take control of. 

Peter shook his head and called out Lex's misogyny. “That’s what you say now.” Peter said. “But when you have children you’ll worry too, about their future and the kind of place that’s being left for them.” 

“What, you have kids?”

“I have a son your age.” Peter said. “And another child on the way.”

Lex almost forgave the man because he recognized him. Almost. 

“You’re a hippie.” Lex said it like it was a slur. His dad hated hippies. 

Lex called Peter a tree-hugging people hater. He spoke of how less industrialization would mean people’s standards of living will be lower. 

Technology and knowledge meant humans lived longer now than in the past. There’s medicine and vaccines. To hell with Mother Nature, Lex said, and the thousands of things it had that killed humans. One of those things had taken the life of Lex’s mother.

Peter spoke of how there had to be a balance and that things shouldn’t be so human-centric. That the needs of the planet should be kept in mind and not only what we as humans could extract from it. We need the planet more than it needs us, Peter said. 

Lex told him to go back to living in a cave. 

Peter shook his head and said he had a job to do. That someone had to give the planet a voice and look after its interests. He wouldn’t hide. He insisted the relationship between humans and the planet didn’t have to be where one exploits the other. 

Lex was sure by now the man was a complete loon who thought he was a prophet for the planet. 

But the reporter had also been talking with Lex for a long time, like they’re equals and Lex wasn’t some kid. 

And Lex had been saying ludicrous things. The Arctic is one of the last frontiers, Lex had said. People should take over the Arctic too despite its nonexistent greenery and close to zero life. Colonize it anyway - the toughest, untamed part of nature. If people can persist there then it will be man’s triumph over nature. Also, humans should colonize outer space. Technological innovation would overcome anything, even if the day arrived that the planet would be unfit for humans to live on. 

When Peter brought up global warming, Lex said it was fake.

“Maybe that’s what the scientists your father paid say and reporters with no morals or conscience report…” Peter said. 

Lois doesn’t hear the rest of his words, she can read the current of memories now and she willed her own path, trying to warp to herself and the framed copy of her Pulitzer Prize winning article on climate change. 

She doesn’t hear the rest of Peter’s words but she was touched with the memory and knowledge that two weeks later the man had died, his death ruled an accident. She vowed to learn the skill of how to kill someone and make it seem like an accident. 

Lois doesn’t know if the tears are her own or Lex’s. 

Lois stood before a framed article but she knew it wasn’t the one she had in her home. The frame was fancier. It wasn’t her room but someone else’s. 

She had a heart-sinking feeling once she spotted the graphic tee she wore. She was looking at the framed article, feeling admiration ringed by obsession. She’s holding a phone and her fingers type a phone number before erasing it again only to type it again and erase. Her thumb hovered uncertainly over the dial button. 

Lois recognized the phone number. It was her own from years ago. 

Lois recoiled from being too submerged in the memory, but she was still in it. She shivered, realizing that Lex Luthor had an interest in her years before Clark arrived in her life. 

Lex Luthor turned around to face a lawyer. Lex planned to divest LexCorp of its oil interests and heavy machinery manufacturing once the company was placed formally under his control. Tech was the future. 

“Miss Luc…er, Mr. Luthor.” The lawyer said, shaking Lex’s hand. “Everything’s going smoothly except - ”

“Let’s not talk business yet.” Lex interrupted. 

He steered the lawyer into a bathroom and shut the door behind him. 

“You’ve been so helpful, Nathan, working such long hours sorting out the estate - why, you didn’t even have time to shave!”

Nathan touched the stubble on his chin, “I’m sorry. It’s rather unprofessional of me.” He looked around the bathroom. “If you don’t mind and want me to, I’ll shave before we talk.” 

“No, no.” Lex said brightly, “You don’t have to - I want to give you a shave as an expression of my thanks.” 

“Ah, okay.” The lawyer said as he was practically manhandled onto a seat .

Lex opened a compartment, pulling out shaving soap, aftershave lotion, a styptic pencil, leather strop, and an old-fashioned straight razor. 

“Like it?” Lex asked, holding out the straight razor. 

“Um.” The lawyer said. His expression clearly said he had not expected a straight razor, but a modern safety razor. “It looks old but well-preserved. Beautiful mother-of-pearl handle.”

“Good eye.” Lex said. “It is a heirloom. Passed down in the Luthor family from father to son for many generations now. I couldn’t wait to be able to shave with it - I guess it’s true what they say about being careful what you wish for.”

Nathan nodded, stepping out of the chair. “It was rather sudden.” He said, briefly patting Lex on the shoulder comfortingly. “Such an item should be used by and for the sons in the Luthor family, use it for yourself and then when the time comes pass it on to your son - ” Nathan paled, realizing he had misspoke. 

Lex gripped Nathan and pushed him back into the chair. 

“It’s wasted on me.” Lex sighed regretfully, running a hand over his smooth chin. “If you’re worried. Don’t. I’ve done this before, lots of times.” Lex’s voice oozed with innuendo. 

Lex spoke of his work at a barber shop, earning his own money. His father had wanted him to be self-sufficient Lex said. 

Lois heard what Lex told Nathan but she also learned from the memories what Lex didn’t tell the lawyer. 

When Lex’s father was in a good mood. He gave Lex nice things and showered him with gifts. 

But his father’s mood was unpredictable as the stock market, and Lex had to be a skilled analyst out of preservation. 

There were books, chemistry sets, video games but as easily as he gave he took away, destroying things on a whim. 

Everything Lex had was his father’s so Lex had tried earning his own money to buy his own possessions but making the stand, the distinction when his father had broken something that he purchased with his own money had only resulted in broken bones. 

The beating came with a message. Nothing is really Lex’s. Everything is his father’s property. Lex included. 

The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. 

But now Lex does the taking, of life, company, and name. 

The lawyer’s relaxed now. Lex was shaving away the foam without a single nick. 

Nathan spoke of business because Lex had asked him to. 

The company wasn’t a problem. It would be Lex’s. But Lex changing his name and gender legally was a problem. 

The judge, Nathan said, would think that Lex was too weighed by grief, that he was trying to emulate his father, by changing his name to Alexander. If Lex tried to change his name now it would likely be rejected on psychological grounds. It was best, Nathan said, to wait a year or two, once Lex was done mourning and might change his mind. 

“You might have a better chance if you picked a different name, not Ale-”

The razor slipped and a bead of red appeared on the white foam. 

“Sorry.” Lex whispered. “I was careless, and I shouldn’t be with something who’s alternate name is “cut throat razor”.”

“Uh, it’s okay.” Nathan said. “You have been doing a stellar job so far. I shouldn’t have brought up an upsetting topic.”

Lex continued working. 

“I could try to work something out and argue that it would help your mental health.” Nathan said. 

Lex finished his work and Nathan looked in the mirror. He touched his now stubble free face. “That really was a close shave.” He said. “You just can’t get results like this with modern razors.”

Lex nodded, agreeing. “It’s a real shame young men don’t use old fashioned razors anymore these days.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> idk what Lois won her Pulitzer Prize for in mos/bvs canon but in my fic I’m just going to say it’s on the topic of climate change.  
> [This is a link to a comic where that is the case.](http://why-i-love-comics.tumblr.com/post/121313366217/sensation-comics-featuring-wonder-woman-27%0A)
> 
> Lex and Lois is like a crack/rarepair ship of mine and I only ship the thing in very specific ways but one of the things I don’t like is Lex being obsessed with her because she’s related to Superman. I want him obsessed with her because it’s _Lois_ so that’s what’s going on here with the Pulitzer Prize winning article. He noticed her before Superman ever arrived.


	4. Chapter 4

Once again, Lois attempted to find Clark. She threw herself into a memory current that hummed with the signature of Smallville. Surely, she could find Clark there. 

Lois couldn’t wait to go back to Metropolis. She fucking hated it in the small town. In the countryside there were so much more stars in the night sky. She hated it. In the city, stars couldn’t be seen in the night sky because of all the light pollution and that’s how she preferred it. It was proof of man’s mastery over nature, outshining even the heavens. She knew she was going places. She wouldn’t be in this purgatory forever. 

Lois distanced herself with frustration. She was in Lex Luthor’s memories. Again. 

After what had happened with the LexCorp chemical spill, Lex and his father had gone to the countryside until the furor over the incident died down, then they could return to the city. And maybe his father was scouting out another place to displace waste onto. 

Lois was outraged. This was Clark’s hometown. 

She tried to read the currents. She was close to gathering all of Clark. But she needed to be closer to him. She searched. 

Lois watched Lex step into a church. He was drawn to the clear water in the wooden pool used for baptism. This time at night the church was deserted but it hadn’t been drained. 

Lex submerged himself in the water. He stayed down for too long, not sure if it was because of boredom or will. 

He doesn’t fight for air. He's going to die. He blacked out and Lois blacked out too. 

—

Lois became aware that someone was pulling her out of the water. 

She hated God’s humor. When she wanted to be saved she isn’t, and when she doesn’t want to be saved, she is.

She’s furious that someone was touching her chest, a part of her body she greatly disliked. 

Someone else's breath was in her mouth and lips briefly brush hers.

Someone was giving her CPR. 

Lois swore that whoever pulled her out was going to suffer and regret they ever pulled her out of the water. 

It’s a dark haired boy. Angels are suppose to be blond. 

Clark. Lois gasped and extracted herself again from being too entwined with Lex’s memory but she couldn’t bring herself to move her limbs, which felt weak and heavy from the near drowning.

Lex asked the boy why he was in the church. 

“I’m hiding from other boys.” Clark said. 

“Why?” Lex asked. He knew the boy was strong and could fight them because the boy pulled Lex out of the water. 

“I don’t want to hurt them.” 

That’s stupid. Lex thought. If he was powerful he’d hurt those that hurt him. 

“Why are you in the church, miss…?”

“I’m a boy.” Lex snapped. “My name is Alexander.” 

“Okay, Alexander.” Clark said. “My name is Clark. Nice to meet you.” 

In the memory, Lois found that she could read Clark’s emotions too. He was confused but obliging. The child who said he was a boy was clearly in a dress. A soaked dress that Clark was trying hard to avoid looking at because there were wet patches through which skin was visible. 

“I’m here to commit suicide.” Lex said casually. Wouldn't that be ironic, following the namesake his father had given him? The empire-ending Roman noblewoman. He'd rather be the empire-building Greek prince. 

“Don’t do that!” Clark shouted, alarmed. “If you commit suicide you go straight to hell!”

“I doubt I’m going anywhere else.” Lex said. “You picked a bad investment.”

“Investment?” Clark echoed in confusion. 

“Did you know that if you save a person’s life, you’re responsible for them for life?” Lex asked. 

Clark looked confused, staying silent.

“Because you saved me, the world must further suffer my existence. Whatever I do from now on, good or bad, couldn’t have been done if I died. If I’m a bad person and I do bad things and harm others - that’s on you because if you didn’t save me then I wouldn’t be alive to harm people.”

Lois would really like to slap Lex. 

“My dad says… son, you’re only responsible for what you do with your own two hands. Don’t go around blaming other people.” Clark said, finally finding his voice. “And you mention bad, but what if you do good things? You keep the credit for that too, I don’t get any. And you’re a person, not an investment.”

“I wouldn’t do good. I’m a bad person.”

“You don’t look like a bad person.”

Lex was angry Clark probably only saw a harmless little girl. 

Lois saw both of their memories, Lex was right. Clark did think Lex was small, weakened and a bit cuckoo from her - his almost drowning. 

Lex tried to shove Clark into the water. 

He used all the strength he could muster and broke his arm. There’s shock and pain. But Lex didn’t scream. He just thought, damn it had just finished healing too… Lex thought that if he wasn’t weakened and had shoved with his full strength he would have hurt himself more. 

“Alex - I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to - ” Clark said, on the brink of tears. 

Lois felt the pain of the broken arm when she brought herself closer to the memory. She’s there when Lex reached out with the uninjured arm.

She knew she had what she had been searching for and her surroundings changed until she was back in the apartment. 

Lois was on the ground. She opened her eyes and found herself looking into Clark’s open ones. 

She turned around and sighted Kon. It had to be, judging by the ancient aura of his eyes. 

Kon smiled. “Hi, dad.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Really loud Smallville shoutout because I couldn't resist. 8D 
> 
> I'm SV Clex trash and the fastest way to make me angst about it is to insinuate Clark is responsible for what Lex does because in saving him Clark allowed Lex's existence to continue and make everyone else's suck 8(


End file.
